EPISODE 155: The Women in Business Series: Interview with Beth Santos, Founder of The Wanderful Network (PART 2)

How to turn your passion into a business.

Welcome to our series interviewing successful women in business- why? Because I feel strongly that when women pursue their true passions as the way to earn their income, typically they will earn more money year after year, and dramatically decrease their stress– thus greatly improving their health and well-being. We’ll be interviewing a ton of fabulous and successful boss babes who will share their “been there, done that” stories and inspire YOU to take the leap you’ve probably been thinking about for a while! Enjoy this power packed 2-part episode with Beth Santos! If you haven’t listened to part 1 yet, CLICK HERE.

About Beth Santos

With a background in international development, thoughtful community building and social enterprise, Beth Santos is out to change the landscape of travel for women worldwide.

In 2009, while cruising her blue motorcycle through the streets of São Tomé and Príncipe, Beth created the first iteration of Wanderful as a travel blog aimed to explore the diverse and shared experiences of women traveling the world. Today, Wanderful has exploded to an international community and social network with the active participation of over 40,000 women and nonbinary people of all ages and backgrounds. This is manifested through an active online platform, chapter events in over 30 global cities worldwide, annual community trips, and the first-ever identity-verified women’s homesharing network.

The group’s success has attracted partnerships with well-known travel and lifestyle brands such as TripAdvisor, Schwinn, Kiva, WordPress, Samsonite, Rail Europe, Turkish Airlines, and numerous tourism boards.

In 2014, Beth created the Women in Travel Summit (WITS), the leading event for female travel influencers, creative entrepreneurs, and industry to use their voices to champion change in the travel industry, now hosted annually on two continents This event has earned international acclaim and attracted top talent in the travel industry and beyond, and led to the recently launched Wanderful Creator Collective to support and empower travel creators to create and nurture their authentic voices and build engaged, thoughtful communities.

Wanderful is the creator of the first-ever identity-verified woman-to-woman homesharing network that helps women travelers to meet, connect, and stay with other women — wherever they are in the world.

In 2019, Wanderful launched the Bessie Awards — an award ceremony to honor women of impact in the travel space. The ceremony honors nine women and brands that have added a compelling voice to travel.

In 2021, Wanderful will launch its first consumer festival, designed to educate, support, and inspire diverse women to travel the world.

Wanderful has been recognized in top publications such as Skift, Lonely Planet, the Boston Globe, the South China Morning Post, and the Chicago Tribune.

Beth has been recognized as a BostInno 50 on Fire, a Chicago Scholars 35 Under 35 Young Leader Making an Impact, a Zell Fellow (a prestigious fellowship for entrepreneurs pursuing their MBA), and an alumna of the Babson WIN Lab. She was recognized by the Obama Administration as one of the top 100 travel bloggers in the US.

Beth is the co-founder of #AtTheTable, an initiative focused on bringing together female founders from different industries to build community, strength and resources. She is a keynote speaker and an entrepreneurship and marketing consultant who thrives on building lasting, impactful communities.

She has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA from Wellesley College. When she’s not traveling the world, she’s refinishing furniture in her home in Boston. You can find her at her website and blog by CLICKING HERE. You can stalk her on instagram by CLICKING HERE.

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